Ah the wonderful concept of 2 amazing werewolf films being made at times when stuff of this caliber had never been seen on film ever before in such a way. I just recently went back and watched 2 clasc werewolf flicks, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London in that order. Both movies were released in 1981 a few months apart from each other. Both films had ground breaking special effects for that era. These movies have and will stand the test of time. As I think back, I was 4 years old when these movies came out, and I realize that the horror world has changed drastically. Yet these 2 movies still hold a strong cult following, and can instill terror when watched with the right kind of eyes. When watching older films, you have to place your mind within the time that it was made.

Just 40 years prior Universal's 1941's "The Wolfman" was released. Lon Chaney Jr, having a ground breaking human to wolf transformation at that point in history must have really given people plenty of fright, especially the children back then.

I will review and give my personal opinion on each movie separately and then talk about some of the many milarities between the two. I realize that many of you may not dig these kind of movies. I myself am not a big werewolf fan, yet my hope is to turn some people on to these amazing clascs if not yet seen, and take a ride down memory lane for those of you that lived this era as I did. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on these two movies as well.

I watched "The Howling" first. Released in April of 1981, This was a small budget film (estimated $1 million) and had great hopes to change the game. Directed by Joe Dante who went on to direct the Twilight Zone Movie, The Burbs, and Gremlins 1 & 2.

Rick Baker was originally slated to do the incredible werewolf transformation scene until the people from the much bigger budget film to be made "American Werewolf in London" Came along dangling the carrot wanting him for their groundbreaking werewolf transformation scene and Baker was out.

The race and pressure were on for both films at that point I would think to try and out do one another. Filling Rick Baker's shoes as the FX guy in The Howling would be Rick's protege Rob Battin, an up and coming star in his own right. After The Howling, Battin went on to work

on The Thing, The Twilight Zone Movie, Witches of Eastwick, Total Recall, Robocop, Bac Instinct, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fight Club just to name a few.

So the film opens up, the muc is eerie. I always get a 1970's vibe from this movie. The tone is set right away, this a scary movie. A creepy young man on his couch watching the news. Cuts to newsroom where a doctor is on talking about his book. Meanwhile the crew is on standby for the real story.

Karen White, a beautiful blonde reporter/anchor for KDHB Channel 6 News being out on the street working with the police, bravely wearing a wire to help police lure in a serial killer Eddie Quist aka Eddie The Mangler. The filming is well done as it follows Karen on the wrong de of town and you get the feeling of "I am alone" as if we are in her shoes. She is mistaken for a lady of the night, and finds a clasc phone booth complete with light and everything. Seeing a smiley face sticker, Eddie's calling card, she waits on his call.

Back at station we meet Bill, Karen's husband who is worried for his wife. Funny scene with anchor in front of the bathroom mirror practicing his lines all proper, and Bill walking in and the anchor with a southern twang says "Hi Bill."

Back to the phone booth, Eddie calls. Close ups of his lower face, creepy movement, tongue action as he talks to Karen and instructs her where to meet him next. He is a big fan of hers and wants to meet her. Old school technology from the cops makes for a bad gnal and they lose Karen. Bill really flips out. The fear of "I am alone thickens".

Luckily there are a couple of cops on the street aware of her "undercover operation", driving around looking for her.

Karen heads into a Porn store with booths in the back she finds the one with the smiley face sticker indicating where she is to go. Great tenon builds as she enters and ts down. The lighting is to where we can only see Karen, and hands come at her from the darkness touching her shoulders. Dropping a coin into the slot to begin playing a grainy brutal style rape film for her to watch

Luckily the 2 cops on the street are asking around for her. A woman tells them she was asking for directions to somewhere. They quickly flee.

Back to the booth, Karen seems afraid yet holds it together as Eddie tells her in a creepy soft voice how he watches her on televion. She is different than the others. Obviously obsessed with her, he says "I can make you feel good. I'm going to light up your whole body." Then his voice changes to a half human half demon sounding tone "Turn around now Karen. I want to give you something." Scary stuff, she slowly turns around and cannot really make out what she sees due to the darkness and just in in time the 2 cops pop in and the rookie eagerly fires his gun "killing" the unarmed Eddie Quist.

Karen is in shock, and disoriented. The camera work here is just great. Close ups on the spectators on the scene in a weird creepy way make for the feeling of shock that Karen feels. They want Karen to go on camera and tell what she saw. She says "I can't remember"

13 minutes into the movie we have one hell of an opening scene. Especially for back in 1981. Scary stuff.

Karen's nightmare scenes are vague, only seeing quick shots of the porn and the dark lhouette of Eddie. Waking to a concerned husband in Bill freaking out.

2 fellow reporters of Karen's, Chris and Terry end up at Eddie's apartment, finding crazy wolf like drawings covering the wall's. A great scare happens as Terry gets near a desk/open window and a dog viciously barks at her. Eddie was a talented artist. They find a landscape drawing and keep it. I guess back in those days you could beat the police in a tuation like that.

Everyone wants to hear Karen's story and put her on the air to tell what she saw. Once on air she stares out at the lights and is confused, they cut away.

Karen is persuaded by Doctor of Psychiatry George Waggner to come and stay at the Colony in an effort to help her remember what happened.

Karen and Bill travel north to the colony hoping for some peace and quite, good company. Night time at the colony looks like a fun time. Everyone is in great spirits and they have a fire burning. They have some muc going. Good times. Everyone is eager to meet the new couple. Bill ends up meeting a very lovely and seductive lady named Marsha whom seems to grab his attention right away.

An old man named Earl, loses his cool and tries to jump into the fire wanting to end it. It's an odd scene. I get it. The Doc calms him down. The shots of the woods are so very amazing. Foggy, nightmarish. I really get the feeling of we are out in the middle of no where.

Karen wakes from a nightmare to the sound of the iconic Howling. Even more creepier shots of the foggy woods are with us as it is much later and what is this howling noise? Bill tells Karen it is just the wind or a dog. Karen is a brave cookie. This woman grabs a flashlight and goes outde to investigate these noises in the foggy dark. She quickly gets spooked and bolts back inde. We see a shot of Eddie down in the bushes, very close to where Karen just was.

Next day Karen calls in the authorities

in the form of a good ole boy country cop, Sam about the howling noises. He tells her it is only coyotes.

Chris and Terry, Karen's TV reporter friends, go to the morgue to have a look at Eddie's body. It is misng, looking as if something had blastfully made it's way out.

Karen and her fellow colony mate Donna run up on a dead bull or cow of some kind.

Bill is invited to go hunting with the men. Bill asking "Don't you guys use dogs for this type of hunting?" The men reply, "we have TC". This guy TC seems to act a little strange like a tracker, a man of the woods. He also the brother of the seductress, Marsha. Anyway, the guys joke, "we believe TC is part blood hound." Could this be a wolf hunt? Hmm. They would like us to think so.

We get a dose of a good 70's style score. Just to remind us of what time period we are in. The style of

film used for the Howling is amazing my opinion. Smaller budget, equals do what you can do.

Karen has a group seson with the Dr. and others, but still cannot remember. She has some dedicated friends. Her reporter buds are digging a grave trying to find out what they can about this Eddie guy after seeing the morgue break out deal. The two hit a book store named, "We Buy Books" Now this was no ordinary store, this was the store that only those interested in the strange would vit. This store dealt with the occult. Hee hee two nuns come walking in, as we pan to Terry, the lady reporter reading from a book "Warlocks, Werewolves & Demons"

They rap for a while about the occult and things leading to the owners laying down the rules of the werewolf when Chris asked about the full moon if it has an effect on the change? The owner responds with "Werewolves can shape shift anytime, and can regenerate, that Hollywood stuff is bologna. lver Bullets are the Only way to get rid of them." he insts. By the way the owner is the older gentlemen from Gremlins. He does a great job in this role.Back to the colony, Bill has killed some rabbits. TC tells him to go vit his ster Marsha, that she would be glad to cook those up for him. Cuts to Bill and Marsha, she wastes no time in going in for the kiss which Bills splits the scene. He is quickly attacked by a wolf or something, it leaves it up to your imagination. He returns to Karen, has been bitten.

Chris and Terry the reporters are in bed watching Universal's "The Wolfman" as Terry gets a call from her friend Karen telling her that Bill has been bitten by a wolf. Wow. Talk about timing and stuff. I forgot what reason, but Chris has something he had to do,

maybe at work, so Terry goes on to the colony alone to be with her friend Karen.

Karen is paranoid that Bill and Marsha have something going on. Bill is suddenly eating meat, when he didn't before. Curious.

Communication problems with the married couple, Karen wakes from another nightmare to Bill not there. Bill meets up with Marsha by a campfire, both are naked and making out. Terry hears howling in distance. Bill and Marsha grow fangs. Doc Hear noises gotta love cut always. Marsha and Bill vaguely transform into wolves up close panning back for some animation transformation over werewolves having sex by the campfire. Shows the Moon. Clasc.

Terry records howling sounds. Next day she is out for a walk and she realizes that she is viewing the same landscape that is from Eddie's drawing from earlier on near the beginning of the movie. I remember a great scary organ that seems to be a lost and forgotten art, but it set a tone. Terry hears her name called in a whisper. All of this within a daytime foggy woods settings. That's a bold move. Day time horror is hard to truly pull off. She enters a cabin that she comes upon. A chili can reads "Wolf Chili" Being the reporter she is, she takes photos, she sees a smiley face sticker. Continuing to take pictures a werewolf suddenly burst through the door in an attempt to mangle her, grabbing a hatchet she jumps out of the window. She ends up chopping off part of the werewolf'’s limb which brilliantly become a human hand in a very believable way. Stuff like that never gets old to me. That's why the new Evil Dead is so badass. It is made in the ways of the old days mixed with the new.

Anyway Terry runs to another cabin, phoning her "TV bud" Chris. Meanwhile Karen has another nightmare. Awaken, she notices scratches on her husband's back. She is paranoid and accuses him of being with Marsha. He back hands her. Brutal. We don't see that too often these days. Few and far between.

Back to Terry on phone with Chris, she tells him she thinks Eddie is still alive and that the docor is involved. She finds Eddie's file. Terry is brutally killed by a werewolf. Still of the phone with Chris who hears what he hears, which sets him into motion in quickly in that direction. Confung to me, was it Eddie, was it TC? Nevertheless the pretty lady Terry is dead now. She seemed to be such a true fighter.

Chris is back at the at occult book store, taking the lver bullets that were displayed, saying "Bill me!"

Ah one of the most important scenes in the history of horror. The real up close werewolf transformation at that time compared to "The Wolfman" and it's sequel "Frankenstein meets the Wolfman". Good fun movies for a rainy day. So here we are Karen is searching for the doctor, and she finds Terry's dead body. The phone doesn't work.

Eddie has an awesome werewolf transformation. One that stands alone in it's own right.

Karen grabs some handy acid that just happens to be in the doctor's office. I love movies like this. She tosses it into a nice frying face effect. Such a gritty vibe. Wonderful effects.

The locals stop a frantic Karen from splitting the scene. She is brought back to a barn where everyone is, including the doctor.

Karen asks the question "where is Bill?" They ignore her question, as her pal Donna tell her about when she was 1st bitten her the doctor her and her man. The old man Earl becomes upset ghting that it's no fun in feeding on cattle. He challenges the doctors ways. Earl wants human prey. The doctor reminds them of exposure. Marsha finally steps up and says to the doctor bacally no more can we fit in with these ways. Earl says "You can't tame what's meant to be wild doc, it aint natural." It ends up the whole colony is werewolves.

An arrogant acid faced Eddie is on the scene, and he grabs the gun, tosng it back to Chris with the question "don't you know anything?" Not realizing that Christopher is packing lver bullets. Eddie begins to transform once again but Chris fires away on him. Finally putting a final end to Eddie. Chris kills TC, including the doctor, who says "Thank God" after being shot. Chris and Karen trap the rest of the colony inde of the big barn setting it a blaze. Werewolves are fighting to get out as they burn up. The fire consumes them. Just marvelous work for a movie. Karen and Chris get in car and escape, stopped by Sam but is a wolf too fires his gun at them, Chris takes out the waste of film with a lver bullet. They take Sam's cop car, with wolves all around, Chris trying to get the car started Karen is bitten by a wolf Bill as they drive off...

Back at the Televion studio, Karen prepares to deliver a special message, and warn everyone via the technology of the time, live TV. The news at that. Believe me, back then everyone watched the news. On air Karen talks of the colony, straying from the teleprompter. She speaks of a secret society living among us. She says she has proof, quickly cuts to

People at home watching are tuned in to see her as she screams out in horror with a tear in her eye as she is more transformed.

People at home are thinking is it real or not?

Now Karen is fully transformed, a soft puppy like wolf. Enter Chris with his big gun blowing her away on the live news broadcast courtesy of a lver bullet.

Pan to bar scene people discuss the news, talking special effects. We see Marsha tting at a bar, wanting a rare burger. 70's muc takes us out.

Overall I enjoyed the Howling. Still to this day it has that element of terror. With a $1 million budget, well done. Very scary.

Now onto "An American Werewolf in London"

Next I took a cruise further down memory lane, watching "An American Werewolf in London". Billed as a comedy/horror film and

released in August of 1981, This was a much bigger budget film than the Howling.

$9 million more

(a $10 million budget) is what AWIL got. With the now successful werewolf movie The Howling out, An American Werewolf in London had to succeed. It was directed by John Landis who was known for movies like "Animal House", "The Blues Brothers" and his well known work with Michael Jackson.

Rick Baker was originally slated to do the big werewolf transformation scene in "The Howling" until the people from this much bigger budget film to be made "American Werewolf in London" Baker rose to the challenge putting things on camera that had never been seen before. Though many will argue the 2 movie comparisons I will hold my final thought until the end.

Rick Baker was named the real star of "An American Werewolf in London" by Entertainment Weekly back then. The Oscar award winning Baker was raing the bar for horror in the 1980's

Once again, I just feel my youth as I view this film. I will say that this movie is so well done. lly at times, but still solid. Other times terrifying.

The movie opens with the song "Blue Moon" It's not the best way to start off a movie to frighten me, yet somehow it still has that what is this? vibe to it. David and Jack, two college students have managed to hitch a ride from a sheep truck in England somewhere. They are backpacking for three months and are in unfamiliar territory. Imagine that. Not exactly smooth sailing. Very far from home. They are advised to stick to the roads.

The two seem to be the best of friends as they joke around with each other talking about girls while the cold rain comes down on them during their journey. They finally approach a pub with the strange name of "The Slaughtered Lamb".

They enter the pub seeking warmth, they get a cold reception. The local patrons all seem to pause and stare at the outders. The nice lady waitress offers them some hot tea to their delight. Jack points out a 5 pointed star up on the wall to David.

"The Wolfman" movie gets a mention during Jack and David's conversation. Jack asks the local what the star means? The vibe gets sour and you can hear the thunder of the cold night awaits outde. They decide to leave. They are advised "Go, and God be with you." You can tell that Jack struck a nerve. A man playing darts instructs them "Go, stay on the road, keep clear of the moors. Beware the Moon." Freaking and now freezing in the cold rainy night, the 2 boys press on seeking safety in some form.

The scene back at the pub is still sour, the woman waitress worried, the men, trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong.

There is a great shot of the Full Moon here. Once again in misery and talking into lost conversation, the two find themselves lost. Realizing they are on the moors and beware the Moon is on their minds, plus it is now hard rain coming down on the cold pair. They decide to head back to the "Slaughtered Lamb". Howling sounds are heard from within the pub. They pretend to not hear it. It's obvious that they feel guilty. Back to David and Jack, they hear the devil howls too. They try to joke about the Moon how they were warned, the howling gets louder. Now growling sounds are heard nearby. They see an animal in the dark, saying "it's

moving , it's circling us" Cold breath from the both of them, trying to convince themselves it's only a dog. I like this scene as I remember it as a child. I really made me think about being away from parents and that far from home just how scary that idea could be. So David falls, and the two seem to all of the sudden not be worried about the death that looms and Jack is Mauled.

David is scratched and bitten, the locals from the pub show up and kill the werewolf with regular bullets. David in shock sees a naked bloody man shot that was his attacker. Interesting.

David wakes up in a London hospital and Nurse price is there to take care of him. He is vited by some inspectors and Frank Oz. David is notified of Jack's Death. It has to suck. Yet it's still half comedy so Im not too upset. David finds out he has been in the hospital for 3 weeks now. He is told he and Jack were attacked by a lunatic and there were witnesses. David says "it was an animal", "a wolf"

The Doctor seems to be a good guy. He is vited by 2 detectives. Keep in mind this all takes place in London. A funny scene with those 3. The detectives want to speak with David.

David begins having nightmares about running though the woods naked, stalking deer and killing it, and eating it.

Nurse Price is now to be referred to as Alex she tells David. She has to makes sure he eats so he can take his meds, but he isn't hungry. Some force feed flirting goes down and it is well played. Alex is a fox. She knew what she was doing.

Another dream, David in the woods, sees him self from afar, in a hospital bed in the woods cuts to wicked face nightmare

David slowly falls in love with Alex. Who could blame the guy, he is stuck at this place for so long and she is the only beauty floating his way. Plus she is just lovely to watch. So yeah, he falls in love with her. Starring at her, dozing off as she reads to him.

This next sequence has haunted me nce I was a child.

All of a sudden David is back at home with his mom, dad, brother and ster. The Muppets show plays on the older model televion set. Frank Oz makes another appearance as Miss Piggy on that spot. Knock at the door, louder knocking The dad opens the door and Blam!! He is instantly killed by machine gun wielding Nazi monsters. One holds a knife to David's throat as he has to watch, just a horrific scene from out of no where.

David's mom is violently sprayed with bullets in the kitchen in a brutal death. His poor little brother and ster scream and are brutally gunned down.

Yeah just brutal. The house is shot up and burned and David's throat is slit. He wakes up from the bad dream, and Alex is there to tell him she has just the thing to make him feel better. she goes over to the curtains to pull them back to let the light in and a Nazi monster appears and stabs her many times. Awaken another nightmare. That to me, really showed that David cared for Alex. Fear of long her.

It was all just a nightmare. I mean the quickness of that scene was wonderful. It catches you off guard, while trying to figure out how did David get home and Nazi gunman shooting them up. Horrific!

David is served breakfast and Jack appears to him. As if he had just been ripped open. A little too hokey for me to buy into. As a kid it's cool but now it's hard to take serious on a horror level. It is still fun to watch Jack deliver his lly lines as his ripped open neck flaps a dangle. He tells David that he is a werewolf, and now Jack must walk in limbo until the last werewolf has been killed, urging David to kill himself. Jack warns David, "Beware of the Moon."

David is upset, he tells Nurse Alex "I'm a werewolf." She is concerned for him knowing he has been through a great deal. Awww. He tells her his friend Jack was just there. Maybe just a dream they conclude. Alex fancies David and invites him to come stay with her nce he is to be released from the hospital soon. Smart man, he accepts. I always wondered just how big his 3 week hospital bill was?

There is a great scene where the 2 of them are walking along the streets on their way to Alex's apartment. I get the London feel here. A funny instance on the subway with David making lly faces. They are into each other no doubt.

They make it back to her apartment and David sees where he will be staying on this crazy bitter/sweet adventure of his. He seems happy. Alex is very forward. She tells him she finds him very attractive. Then follows it up with "Perhaps you'd want to watch the telie while I take a shower?" Bam! They're making out in the shower.

Followed by a sex scene. Ding dong. So David and Alex are asleep, as David awakens, going into the restroom. He sees the healing claw marks on his chest in the medicine cabinet mirror and is vited by Jack again. This time a much more deteriorated green stinky color. A dead Jack playing with Mickey Mouse, not too scary. He bacally tells David the same thing. "Kill yourself, you will change"

David makes reference to "The Wolfman" movie to Alex explaining it to her. Meanwhile the doctor, curious and in the rain, goes to the Slaughtered Lamb pub to investigate these fishy vibes on his own.

He makes the locals nervous with the werewolf talk. Finally while standing in the rain, one of the locals spills some info to the doctor. "The boy will become a werewolf".

"Bad Moon Ring " plays as we are back at Alex's apartment. David is alone and not hungry. Mickey Mouse seems everywhere. Pacing around, bored, still not hungry.

Shot of Full Moon, reading a magazine Bam! David goes into instant pain. Saying he is burning up, he rips his clothes off. The chill and mellow tune "Blue Moon" plays as we watch David go through a brutal werewolf transformation unlike any other. Kudos Rick Baker.

David goes full blown 4 legged werewolf on us. We hear the howling in the distance like earlier on in the movie. Several instances with quick and violent shots where the vicious werewolf tears into unsuspecting people. 6 people I believe over night. A few homeless folks, and a man in the subway gets a nice chase scene death. A couple trying to play a prank on their friends trying to scare them gets the teeth of the devil hound David.

It's the next day and we are shown inde the wolf pit at the zoo where a naked David wakes up. Cupping his manhood with his hands he gets away. Madness. The poor guys just wants to get back to his woman's flat. He pops out of a bush at this lady on accident, lly humor. Finally crouches in a bush and calls over a boy that has a hand full of balloons. He tells the kid he will give him 2 pounds. The boy asks "Who are you?" David replies "I'm the famous ballon thief" the witty boy asks "Why would a thief want to give me 2 pounds?" David eases out of the bushes and steals the balloons covering his nakedness. The kid doesn't even flinch. Then the kid tells his mother "A naked American man stole my balloons."

We see the balloons go up in the air and David now stands in line wearing nothing but a red, ladies coat. David returns back to Alex's and tells her he is long his mind, waking up in the zoo. He has no memory of the transformation, only up until the was reading, and then he woke up. The doctor calls around this time convincing Alex to bring David in. They head in that direction.

While in a cab, the driver mentions the murders last night and David flips out, knowing it was him. Out of the cab, going up to a police officer and trying to get arrested. Telling the cop that he murdered those people. The cop thinks it is a joke, "Move along." David looks really upset and tells Alex that it is not safe to be with me." He takes off running. Disappears.

The doctor talks with the detectives and Alex are all worried for David.

Finding a phone booth David tries to call home long distance, hoping to hear a familiar voice from home. His ten year old little ster answers the phone. David asks where everyone is, she says she is home alone. It's a heart felt moment as he realizes he may never see them again. He tells her to please be sure and tell his family that he loves them and he tells her that he loves her too. He then gets off the phone and holds an open pocket knife just over his wrist. Wanting it to end, not sure?

Where does he go from here? You guessed it. A porn theater. This one is more like a movie theater. Once inde he sees a man up top waving, we gets up there and it is Jack again. This time, looking very skeletal. The two take a moment to watch a scene from the cheap porn flick. They joke, "good movie."

Jack introduces David to all of the people he killed and how they too are to walk in limbo until the curse is lifted by the last remaining werewolf to die. lver Bullets are brought up and are said to be only a myth.

These corpses arguing with each other and the Bam! The full Moon gets to David as he quickly transforms into a werewolf while inde the theater.

An Usher checks out the disturbance and is blindded by the wolf.

Someone yells "There's a mad dog in there!" A woman screams. Chaos begins. A cop slowly eases in to investigate. finding the wolf feasting on a body.

The cop runs back trying to trap the beast inde. More police arrive, backup. The detectives from earlier show up. The more stuck up one runs all up close just as the wolf comes busting out, nking it's vicious teeth into his neck decapitating him.

The head was a bit cheesy, but the violent wolf noises make up for it. The wolf walks strolls into the street on all fours caung a bus to have and accident which causes a blues brother's car crash pile up plus dead bodies everywhere. Madness.

The doctor hears of the disturbance involving a mad dog and tells Alex. The quickly flee for there. Looks like the Military are called in. When Alex and the doctor arrive the werewolf in London is cornered in an alleyway. She fights through the barricade of authority, Love can make you do crazy things. She rushes down into the alley. Finding the beast. She tries to reason with the animal. Telling David that she loves him. The Beast goes to attack.

Only to be shot down by a hail of gunfire. As they approach they all see a naked David, full of bullet holes. Alex cries with great pain.

The film ends?

Damn. What a ride

So Wabi Sabi's final thoughts are that it is amazing to me just how close these 2 movies were made from each other. Both films had traumatic opening scenes with amnea like overtones, both ending in tragedy. I thought it was funny that both involved a porn theater. Both flicks had ground breaking werewolf transformations which the world will never forget.

I think that The Howling's wolves were more scary. Don't get me wrong, American Werewolf's monster looked terrifying but if you were to put them de by de and ask which one would you want to have to avoid, I would say the one standing tall on 2 feet. That image is so scary. A childhood fright that is still lingers inde of me somehow.Both such great movies. The Howling did amazing with it's small budget. It's rules of the wolf being, no need for the Moon to shape shift, and lver bullets were the way to kill it.

American Werewolf had it's own set of rules as well. The Moon was the trigger, and lver bullets were a laugh. The 5 pointed star seemed to play a part in warding away the evil. Both movies did great at the box office condering of their respective budgets.

It is hard to pick a favorite. My final thought. I say that the Howling is more scary. American Werewolf in London is a very detailed enigma. Some very scary scenes indeed with some comedy. Some love scenes and a blues brothers style car crash pile up. Too cool.

I honestly cannot think of anything else to say about these two clascs right now except if you have never seen either one of these movies, please give them a chance. You will be glad you did. Long live practical effects.

I would love to know what you all think of these 2 movies and which is your favorite?